ICYMI, the Tampa Bay Lightning are getting jersey ads for the 2024-25 (and beyond) season, but they’re different from the “traditional” ads that most NHL teams are now sporting.
According to the team, the new “Patch with a Purpose” program will be the “National Hockey League’s first-ever purpose-driven jersey patch with a $1 million Club donation. In a commitment to extend the organization’s impact beyond the ice and into the Tampa Bay community, the program will feature the Lightning pledging more than $1 million to support local, non-profit organizations in the initial five years of the program.”
For each home game the Lightning will don a Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA jersey ad, located on the right chest of the team’s primary, blue sweater and the black, third jersey. When they wear their white road jerseys, those will feature an AdventHealth jersey ad, also located on the right chest of each player.
Here’s a look at the patches on the home and road sweaters:
And the obligatory video…
Woven into our fabric. 🧵
Our Patch with a Purpose is driving over $1 million to the Tampa Bay community.
More info: https://t.co/KZ35ADdw6W@TampaYMCA @AdventHealth pic.twitter.com/bogBicDCWe
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 20, 2024
This ad patch differs from traditional ads (where the revenues are retained by the team) by pledging more than $1 million to support local, non-profit organizations in the initial five years of the program.
The situation here is similar to, but not the same as, when the Utah Jazz introduced their “5 for the Fight” jersey patch — a call for people to donate $5 toward cancer research — which the Jazz wore at the beginning of the 2017-18 season. 5 for the Fight is a nonprofit charity initiative of the experience management company Qualtrics, which paid for the ad patch without having their own name attached to it. That program ended in 2023, because the campaign’s $50 million fundraising goal was met.
While the Lightning have pledged “more than $1 million,” unlike the Jazz both the YMCA and Advent Health ads will appear on the teams jerseys.
You can read more about the “Patch With A Purpose” program here.
It’s noble that the Lightning have made a commitment ($1 million-plus over five years) to local, non-profits, these are still jersey ads. Not quite as noxious as others, perhaps, but still jersey ads.
If you’re scoring at home, there have been six teams with new jersey or helmet ads in the past two weeks. Those are the Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings and Ottawa Senators, all of whom got first-time advertisers for their white jerseys. The Toronto Maple Leafs added a helmet ad, and the Edmonton Oilers, have an ad for their home jerseys. The Calgary Flames have new home sweater and helmet ads.
Too bad Ads with a Purpose doesn’t make for a snappy alliterative slogan. Unlike nearly every other uni ad program, at least there’s some tangible benefit to this one besides a naked cash grab.
lipstick… pig
Fun fact: AdventHealth is run by Seventh Day Adventists, and dropped the requirement that its employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 after a federal judge ruled that healthcare workers were no longer required to receive vaccinations (the US Supreme Court later overruled the lower court).
It’s also a massively huge operation with $18 billion in revenues last year that funnels cash directly to the church.